Smaller vegetable , fruit and flower producers still using paper - establish systems are struggling to cope with the ever - increase requirements of retailers for quality assurance ( QA ) and traceability , say Derek Thompson , atomic number 27 - founder of Consus Fresh Solutions based in Lincolnshire . To address this the company has developed an level-headed software - based system to reduce the burden of audits and better productiveness .
“ Producers agree how of import traceability is to the industry and have devote QA faculty to check out daily for tone , temperature , labelling , and packaging , ” Thompson says . “ However , we have been enjoin that daily and weekly audits , as well as the need to respond within hours to unheralded audits , are creating a Brobdingnagian overhead for manufacturer . ”
Thompson was a packhouse handler for many geezerhood and so understand first - hand the pressure on producer : “ Each retail merchant can have different requirements for size or ripeness and vary stipulation for shelf - life . Confirming that these requirements are met , before produce is dispatched from the packhouse , is full of life to ensure that the customer accepts the consignment , ” he says .
“ To respond to these want , some producers have doubled their QA team in late class to meet the requisite of the BRC Global Standard and those of retail merchant , Red Tractor and the Soil Association – all of which want like data show in different formats . ”
Consus has been working with leading manufacturer , include Castleton Farms , Polly Bell Organic Farms Ltd and AJ and CI Snell , to develop a paperless scheme . It automates many of the elements of QA , play up issues with batches of green groceries and provides existent elaborate costing to regulate profitability and cost per ring .
Thompson continues : “ Many manufacturer already have practiced quality systems in space ; we saw a need to support them by enamor the selective information electronically and creating label with unique barcodes that would allow bring out quality and full transactional chronicle to be tracked post - harvest from field to dispatch . The Consus organisation is consistent with BRC and report can be generated to cope with the varying penury of auditors and retailers . ”
Consus find out potentiality for increasing the level of reinforcement to producers and will be demonstrating two fresh module for the ware – Facial Recognition for improved workforce management and Shelf - lifespan foretelling – at Agri - Tech East ’s REAP Conference in Cambridge on 7 November .
For more entropy : www.consusfresh.co.ukwww.reapconference.co.uk
